Nato air strikes hammer Tripoli as mission to Libya is extended

A Nato statement said the attacks hit military vehicle and ammunition depots, a surface-to-air missile launcher and a fire control radar. Libyan government officials refused repeated requests for information.

The air strikes rained down just hours after Nato and its partners said it would extend the Libyan mission for 90 more days in support of a rebel insurgency.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: “This decision sends a clear message to the Gaddafi regime. We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya.”

Extending the mission also reflects the resiliency of Col Gaddafi’s regime, hanging on to power despite the Nato strikes that have targeted military sites and the ruling family since mid-March, a naval blockade and top defections from his government and military.

The development came as United Nations investigators said that both Gaddafi and the forces of the opposition have committed war crimes in Libya.

A report by three UN-appointed experts called on both sides to conduct transparent and exhaustive investigations and bring those responsible to justice.

The decision to extend the Nato mission was made at a meeting of ambassadors from the 28 Nato countries plus ambassadors from the five non-Nato countries participating in the Libya campaign – Jordan, Qatar, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

Foreign Secretary William Hague described it as “an important reaffirmation of the international community’s resolve and determination to implement fully UNSCR 1973 and protect the people of Libya”.

He added: “The UK will continue to work closely with our international partners to support the legitimate aspirations and demands of the Libyan people.”

Libya’s top oil official Shukri Ghanem has become the latest senior member of Gaddafi’s regime to defect to the rebel side, following the departure of eight senior Army officers earlier this week.

He claimed Libya’s oil infrastructure had been badly hurt by the war. Up to now, oil and gas has accounted for 95 per cent of Libya’s export income, 25 per cent of its gross domestic product and 80 per cent of government revenue.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday repeated that the Kremlin stood ready to do whatever it can to solve the crisis in Libya through negotiations rather than militarily.

Russia has been critical of the Nato-led bombing campaign in Libya and offered during a G8 summit last week to mediate a deal for Gaddafi to leave the country.

Opponents of the Gaddafi regime rose up against the Libyan dictator in mid-February, and have wrested control of the eastern half of the north African country.

The rebels have set up their de facto capital in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, which has been rocked by a car bomb outside a hotel used by many Western visitors to the rebel regime.

Rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shamman said a hand grenade had been tossed under a car in the hotel parking lot, the first blast of this magnitude in Benghazi since Nato started its bombing campaign in mid-March and helped drive government troops from the city’s gates.

Despite months of fierce fighting between rebel forces and Gaddafi’s military, Benghazi has been for the most part calm.

Gaddafi “is trying to send a message to tell us he’s still there”, Mr Shamman told reporters, adding: “He’s still fighting and he’s going to continue fighting.”